METI Priorities Based on the 2017 Report on Compliance by Major Trading Partners with Trade Agreements (May 23, 2017)

Transcription

1 METI Priorities Based on the 2017 Report on Compliance by Major Trading Partners with Trade Agreements (May 23, 2017) The 2017 Report on Compliance by Major Trading Partners with Trade Agreements - WTO, EPA/FTA and IIA - was today published by the Industrial Structure Council s Subcommittee on Unfair Trade Policies and Measures. The Report points out wide-ranging trade policies and measures of major trading partners that are questioned in light of the WTO Agreements and other international rules. As mentioned in the Report, the WTO dispute settlement mechanism not only recommends corrections of problematic trade policies and measures but also puts in place procedures for monitoring implementation of recommendations and countermeasures in the event of failure thereof. Therefore, WTO recommendations, which tend to have a high probability of implementation, have contributed to maintaining the effectiveness of the WTO rules. Since the inauguration of the WTO in 1995, the WTO dispute settlement procedures have been used in 524 cases. Japan has actively utilized the WTO dispute settlement mechanism with the aim of eliminating disadvantages caused by other countries measures that are inconsistent with international rules, and is also developing rules through the accumulation of precedents in the current situation where the Doha Round negotiations are stalled. Since 1995, Japan has requested 23 consultations, and cases with emerging countries have been increasing in recent years. Out of 19 cases excluding four pending cases, disputes were resolved in line with Japan s arguments in 18 cases. METI will continuously utilize the WTO dispute settlement mechanism, etc. to achieve resolution in individual cases, but will preferentially address the following cases pointed out in the 2017 Report. The details of each case are shown in the Reference below. In addition, this year s Report describes and higher priorities is placed on the promotion of Japan-U.S. cooperation in the enforcement of trade rules toward correction of unfair trade practices by third-party countries, which was agreed upon at the Japan-US Economic Dialogue in April held in consideration of the Japan-U.S. Summit Meeting in February and at the conference between Hiroshige Seko, Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan, and Wilbur Ross, 1

2 U.S. Secretary of Commerce, and the establishment of the General Counsel Office within METI to strengthen systems (See II. below). I. Individual Measures (1) Issues to be resolved through bilateral/multilateral consultations with possible use of the WTO Dispute Settlement Mechanism Korea: AD Sunset Review on Stainless Steel Bars from Japan China: Inappropriate Regulation/Implementation of AD Measures China: Banking IT Equipment Security Regulation China: Cybersecurity Law The United States: Sunset Review Practice (Term-end Review for the Continuation of AD Measures) and Inappropriate Long-Standing AD Duty Measures on Japanese Products (2) Issues already referred to the WTO dispute settlement mechanism India: The Safeguard Measures on Hot-Rolled Steel Products Korea: The AD Duty Measures on Pneumatic Valves [newly listed] Brazil: Discriminatory Preferential Taxation and Charges Affecting Automobile Sectors, etc. (3) Issues on which Japan urges prompt implementation of the WTO recommendations Argentina: Elimination of Import Restrictions on a Wide-Range of Items The United States: Complete Abolition of Zeroing The United States: Halt of Distribution of Duty Revenues Collected through AD and Countervailing Duty Measures to U.S. Companies based on the Byrd Amendment 2

3 [Reference] Details of the Individual Trade Policies and Measures Listed in the METI Priorities Based on the 2017 Report on Compliance by Major Trading Partners with Trade Agreements Details of the individual trade policies and measures listed in the 2017 METI Priorities are as follows. (1) Issues to be resolved through bilateral/multilateral consultations with possible use of the WTO Dispute Settlement Mechanism Korea: AD Sunset Review on Stainless Steel Bars from Japan The Republic of Korea (Korea) initiated a sunset review on stainless steel bars manufactured in Japan in June 2016, and published an interim report towards a final determination in February Since imports manufactured in Japan are comprised of high value-added products, and the intended use and price range are different from products manufactured in India, which is another subject country to investigation and import volume of which is increasing, cumulative assessment of such imports is not appropriate. With regard to importation of stainless steel bars by Korea, while import volumes from countries not subject to investigations such as China and Chinese Taipei are increasing, imports from Japan are mainly products excluded from investigations and very few products that are under investigations. Therefore, it deems unlikely that injury will continue to exist or recur unless the AD measures on Japanese products are continued, and thus the sunset view concerned is likely to violate Article 11.3 of the AD Agreement. At the WTO AD Committee meeting in October 2016, Japan pointed out its concerns over international rules and expressed its deep concern about extended imposition of the AD measures. Japan also made the same statements at the public hearing held in November Japan will continue to urge Korea to correct the measure through bilateral consultations and at WTO AD Committee meetings and various multilateral meetings. 3

4 China: Inappropriate Regulation/Implementation of AD Measures China initiated 231 AD investigations between 1995 and the end of June 2016 and among which, 42 cases concern Japanese products. Among these 42 cases, 32 cases resulted in affirmative determinations to impose AD measures, of which, AD duties remain in force in 19 cases. China s AD measures and investigations raise concerns about their consistency with the AD Agreement in areas such as lack of transparency in investigation procedures and arbitrary determination of injury and causation. Japan has requested Chinese authority to improve its procedures and practices on various occasions, such as at meetings with competent Chinese government officials and WTO/AD Committee meetings, etc., or through participation in public hearings and submission of government opinions. With respect to China s AD investigation procedures, the United States and the European Union have also expressed concerns. Japan, the US and the EU have referred China s AD measures on their domestic products respectively to the WTO dispute settlement procedures and have been cooperating with each other, e.g. by submitting written opinions as a third party to support relevant arguments of the other countries. [Reference] WTO Dispute Settlement Procedures against China s AD Measures Petitioner Product DS No. Proceedings A panel was established in May 2013, and the panel issued a report in February 2015, ruling that the China s High- measures are inconsistent with the AD Agreement with Japan performance stainless steel DS454 respect to part of the determination of injury and causation as well as procedures. The Appellate Body seamless tubes report issued in October 2015 fully upheld Japan s arguments concerning defects in China s determination of injury and causation. 4

5 Petitioner Product DS No. Proceedings The Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) adopted the panel and Appellate Body reports that upheld the arguments by the United States in November 2012, but China GOES [Grain oriented flatrolled electrical steel] DS414 made a re-determination to maintain its AD measures in July The compliance panel continued assessment and issued a report in July 2015, in which it upheld most of the arguments by the United States and concluded that China s measures are not in conformity with the DSB recommendations China terminated the imposition of AD duties in April 2015, ahead of the U.S. issuance of the compliance panel report. The DSB adopted a panel report upholding the Broiler products DS427 arguments by the United States in September China notified that the implementation was completed. However, the U.S. argued that the implementation was insufficient, and the compliance panel was established.. A panel was established in October 2012 and the DSB adopted a panel report upholding the arguments by the Automobiles DS440 United States in January China, however, terminated its AD measures in December 2013 while the panel was continuing assessment. X-ray security equipment DS425 The DSB adopted a panel report upholding the arguments by the EU in April 2013, and China terminated its AD measures in February EU Highperformance stainless steel seamless tubes DS460 A panel was established in August 2013, and the panel issued a panel report in February In addition to the issues common to the aforementioned case involving Japan, the panel also recognized China s 5

6 Petitioner Product DS No. Proceedings violation with respect to the determination of dumping and the calculation of dumping margins. The Appellate Body report issued in October 2015 upheld the determination of the panel concerning the determination of dumping and the calculation of dumping margins, and fully upheld the arguments by Japan and the EU concerning defects in China s determination of injury and causation. China: Banking IT Equipment Security Regulations In September 2014, the Chinese government issued the Guiding Opinions on the Application of Secure and Controllable Information Technology to Strengthen Banking Industry Network Security and Informatization (hereinafter referred to as the Guiding Opinions ), and in December of the same year, it issued the Guidelines as a follow-up to the Guiding Opinions to only limited stakeholders. In February 2015, supplementary explanations to the Guidelines were also publicized. Through the issuance of the Guiding Opinions and the Guidelines, the Chinese government aims at [i] raising the utilization rate of secure and controllable information technologies in the Chinese banking industry to 75% by 2019, and [ii] establishing the network security audit standards for the Chinese banking industry and strengthening the information technologies dedicated to the banking business and the security inspection of products. It is necessary to closely watch how these regulations will be implemented and operated in the future. If it is made obligatory under these regulations to use products adopting core technologies based on intellectual property rights within China (i.e. owned by Chinese civilians, etc.) or to acquire evaluation or certification based on standards unique to China, they may possibly be inconsistent with the WTO Agreements. In response to China s formulation of these regulations, in March 2015, Japan expressed concerns to the Chinese government, and at the meetings of the TBT Committee held in March 2015 onward, Japan, the United States, the EU and Canada jointly expressed concerns 6

7 about this issue. As a result of the efforts by Japan and other related countries and related industries, China decided to postpone the enforcement of these security regulations in April Japan will continue to urge China to correct the system in cooperation with relevant countries and industries through bilateral consultations and at TBT Committee meetings and other WTO Committee meetings as well as at various multilateral meetings. China: Cybersecurity Law In November 2016, the Chinese government announced the enactment of the Cybersecurity Law. Since the Law stipulates that when selling core network products and specialized cybersecurity products, a security certification needs to be obtained in accordance with relevant national standards and industrial standards, technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures for these products will be considered to be established. However, TBT notifications on regulations based on the Law have not been made, and therefore it is likely to be inconsistent with Article of the WTO TBT Agreement. If such standards are not based on international standards or the concrete measures specified are more trade-restrictive than necessary to achieve the objective in terms of the relationship between the objective of maintaining cyber space sovereignty and national security and specific measures such as standards and certifications, etc., it may violate Articles 2.4 and 2.2 of the TBT Agreement. In addition, personal information, etc. owned by operators of important information infrastructure is not clearly defined, and when data, including access data, etc. is stored domestically, it may cause problems to marketing activities. It may also violate national treatment obligation of GATS if concrete measures impose restrictions on transferring such data overseas to a greater extent than is necessary to protect personal information. From the drafting stage of the law,, the governments of Japan and various other countries as well as industrial organizations, etc. submitted opinion letters to the Chinese government during the public comment invitation period to express concerns as described above, but many of the opinions were not reflected in the enacted Cybersecurity Law. The Law is scheduled to be enforced in June 2017, and Japan will continue to pay close attention to future developments in formulation of regulations based on the Law. Japan will also urge China to correct the system through opportunities such as WTO TBT Committee meetings and bilateral consultations, etc. 7

8 The United States: Sunset Review Practice and Inappropriate Long-Standing AD Duty Orders on Japanese Products The AD Agreement stipulates that any definitive AD duty shall be terminated in five years (Sunset) unless the necessity for further continuation is determined. However, the U.S. practice of sunset reviews is that AD measures are continued in general as long as a domestic company files an application for a review. At the end of June 2016, there are 15 definitive AD measures imposed by the United States on Japanese products. The longest duration of the U.S. measure exceeds 35 years and the duration of the 5 measures exceeds 20 years. The result of such prolonged imposition of the AD duty excessively discourages exports of Japanese companies and imposing huge burdens on the importers and the users in the United States. For example, some high quality and highly reliable Japanese iron or steel products that have won wide support from U.S. users are unavailable to those customers due to the U.S AD measures, and it is pointed out that the users in the United States are forced to buy other products. Japan thus is requesting the early termination of these measures in the Japan-U.S. Economic Harmonization Initiative, and at the recent meetings of the WTO AD Committee. Japan will continue requesting improvement of the current U.S. sunset reviews practice and requests the termination of the long-standing AD measures on Japanese products as soon as possible. (2) Issues already referred to the WTO dispute settlement mechanism India: The Safeguard Measures on Hot-Rolled Steel Products) On September 7, 2015, the Indian government initiated an investigation on hot-roll steel products and decided the imposition of provisional safeguard measures on September 9, 2015, which is only two days after the initiation. The provisional safeguard measures were imposed on September 14, 2015 levying duties on hot-roll steel products. In March 2016 the Indian government published a notification on imposing the definitive safeguard measures for a period of two years and six months, starting from the date of levy of the provisional safeguard duty. 8

9 As required under the WTO Agreements, the party needs to clearly determine an increase in import resulting from the effect of the obligations incurred under the GATT 1994 as prescribed in Article XIX, paragraph 1 (a) of the GATT However, the Indian authority failed to clarify this in its investigation reports. Moreover, under Article XIX, paragraph 1 (a) of the GATT 1994, the alleged increase in import must have been brought about by the effect of the obligations incurred under the GATT 1994, and it is not permissible to take into account any import increase resulting from the effect of tariff concessions under the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement Between Japan and the Republic of India (IJCEPA). However, the investigation reports seem to indicate that the Indian authority did so. Furthermore, the investigation reports prepared by the Indian authority recognize such facts as overproduction in China and demand increase in India as unforeseen developments as prescribed in Article XIX, paragraph 1 (a) of the GATT However, these facts are only changes in supply-demand relationships, which exert influence equally both on imported goods and domestic goods, and they do not cause disadvantageous changes in competitive conditions of domestic goods and do not fall under unforeseen developments. Given these, the Indian authority cannot be held to have properly recognized the fulfilment of the requirements for imposing safeguard measures under Article XIX, paragraph 1 (a) of the GATT Furthermore, Japan understands that the Indian authority has not fulfilled other requirements to impose safeguard measures. In addition, there were defects in the content of the notification to the WTO and consistency of its procedure to the WTO Agreements is thus questioned. Japan has carefully monitored the actions taken by the Indian authority concerning this issue since September 2015 when the investigation was initiated, and submitted government opinions, held bilateral consultations, and participated in public hearings procedure. In the written opinions submitted, Japan suggested that the safeguard measures at issue may violate the WTO Agreements and requested to take due care in conducting the investigation. Nevertheless, the Indian government has decided to impose definitive safeguard measures following the investigations and has not corrected their measures since then. Therefore, in December 2016, Japan requested India to hold bilateral consultations under the WTO Agreements. In March 2017, 9

10 Japan requested the WTO to establish a panel regarding the safeguard measures at issue and the panel was established in April Japan will continue requesting the termination of the safeguard measures through the panel procedures under the WTO dispute settlement framework. Korea: The AD Duty Measures on Pneumatic Valves From Japan In February 2014, the government of Korea initiated AD investigations for pneumatic valves from Japan upon a request from Korean companies. At the WTO AD Committee meetings in April and October 2014, Japan advocated that products under investigations included uncompetitive products and that the Korean investigating authority should carefully review the requirements concerning injury and causation, and strongly demanded proper determination with due consideration to opinions of investigated companies. At public hearings on these AD measures held by the Korean investigating authority in October 2014, the Japanese government reiterated these arguments. Nevertheless, the Korean government determined the injury and causation in January 2015 and started to impose AD duties in August Thereafter, Japan continued to request the elimination of these AD measures, which are inconsistent with the AD Agreement, and tried to resolve this issue through bilateral consultations, but in vain. Therefore, in March 2016, Japan requested bilateral consultations with Korea on this matter under the WTO Agreements. Following the consultations, in June 2016, Japan requested the WTO to establish a panel regarding the AD measures imposed by Korea and the panel was established in July Upon imposing these AD duty measures, Korea has failed to provide persuasive explanations on the possible influence of imported goods on the prices of domestic goods (Articles 3.1 and 3.2 of the AD Agreement). Furthermore, there are defects in Korea s determination of injury to domestic industries and causal relationships (Articles 3.1, 3.2, 3.4 and 3.5 of the AD Agreement) and there are also procedural flaws in the investigations such as the failure to disclose essential facts (Article 6.9 of the AD Agreement). Given these, the AD duty measures are likely to violate the AD Agreement. Japan will continue to make requests to Korea to correct these measures through the WTO dispute settlement framework. 10

11 Brazil: Discriminatory Preferential Taxation and Charges Affecting AutomobileSsectors, etc. In September 2011, the Brazilian government announced to raise Tax on Industrialized Products (IPI) by 30% for domestic as well as imported automobiles. However, manufacturers were to be exempt from the additional IPI, provided that the manufacturer became an accredited company by fulfilling the following requirements: (i) the average local content ratio within the MERCOSUR area is 65% or more, (ii) among eleven manufacturing processes for automobiles, including assembly process and press process, six or more processes are carried out in Brazil, etc. These measures were temporary ones to be terminated in December 2012, but in lieu of these measures, in October 2012, the Brazilian government announced a new program called the Inovar-Auto. The Inovar-Auto keeps the imposition of the additional 30% IPI on automobiles for five years from 2013 until 2017, and grants automobile manufacturers IPI credits that allow them offsetting their IPI credits (reduction and exemption from IPI), in exchange for achieving the prescribed fuel efficiency standards and undertaking of manufacturing processes in Brazil etc. In addition to the automobile sector, the Brazilian government further introduced preferential taxation associated with the local content requirements provided in information technology goods and other wide-ranging sectors. Significant reduction and exemption from IPI and other taxes and burdens are granted provided that certain manufacturing processes are carried out in Brazil, domestic components are used, and R&D investments are made in Brazil, etc. Furthermore, the Brazilian government is stringently applying the local content requirements for automotive parts. For example, in August 2014, the Brazilian government made it obligatory for automotive parts manufacturers to report the place of origin of automotive parts and adopted measures to reduce the aforementioned IPI credits when the required local content ratios are not satisfied for secondary and tertiary parts, in addition for primary parts. These measures treat imported parts in a discriminatory manner compared to local ones and are likely to violate Article III of the GATT (national treatment obligation) and other obligations under the WTO agreement. The Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry pointed out to the Brazilian Minister of Development, Commerce and Industry the possible infringement of the WTO Agreements in 11

12 May and November 2012, respectively. Further, Japan expressed concerns and requested cooperation including information provision at the Japan-Brazil Joint Committee on Promoting Trade and Investment held in September Jointly with the United States and the EU, etc., Japan also expressed concerns several times at meetings of the WTO Council on Trade in Goods and the Committee on Trade-Related Investment Measures (TRIMs). However, since no improvement was made by the Brazilian Government, on July 2, 2015, Japan requested consultations with Brazil under the WTO dispute settlement procedures regarding Brazilian government s discriminatory preferential taxation etc. in the automobiles and information technology fields. Following Japan's request to establish a panel on September 17, 2015, the panel was established on September 28, EU had already requested bilateral consultations with Brazil under the WTO dispute settlement procedures in December 2013 regarding these measures, and the panel was established in December Japan will continue requesting Brazil to correct these measures through the same panel procedures with the EU. (3) Issues on which Japan urges prompt implementation of the WTO recommendations Argentina: Elimination of Import Restrictions on a Wide-Range of Items In 2008, Argentina introduced a series of import restrictive measures, which are the nonautomatic licensing system, the trade balancing requirements on importers (for example, requiring one-dollar export as a condition for one-dollar import), and prior import declaration requirements (DJAI) as an additional system for import permission, thereby requiring importers to apply in advance for all imports. These import restrictive measures are inconsistent with the general prohibition of import restrictions under Article XI of the GATT, as the requirements etc. for these import restrictions are not specified and they are implemented arbitrarily at the discretion of authorities. In August 2012, Japan, jointly with the United States and Mexico, requested consultations with Argentina based on the WTO Agreements, and in December of the same year, Japan, jointly with the United States and the EU, requested the establishment of a panel. In August 2014, the panel report was issued that completely upheld the arguments by Japan, ruling that trade balancing 12

13 requirements and prior import declaration requirements are inconsistent with Article XI of the GATT. The non-automatic licensing system was excluded from the scope of panel deliberation, since it had been eliminated on January 25, 2013,just before the panel was established. In January 2015, the Appellate Body issued a report, which upheld the panel s rulings and completely reaffirmed the arguments made by Japan, the United States and the EU. Japan, the United States and the EU respectively reached an agreement with Argentina that the reasonable period of time to implement the recommendations should be the end of December 2015, but Argentina issued a notice to the complainants in October 2015 to the effect that it had not imposed trade balancing requirements and announced the abolition of the DJAI in December Following this, Argentina announced the introduction of a new import licensing system (SIMI) in lieu of the DJAI in the same month. The SIMI consists of automatic import licensing (for 18,000 items) and non-automatic import licensing (for approximately 1,400 items). Non-automatic import licensing has some issues. For example, it is stipulated that determination on an application is to be made within ten days but with an additional provision to allow the extension of said ten-day period when necessary. It is thus not clear what are the improvements from the DJIA, and it is questionable whether the SIMI is consistent with the WTO Agreements. Japan will continue collecting information on Argentina s implementation of correction measures and will monitor its moves to request prompt revisions when any inconsistency with the WTO Agreements is found. The United States: Complete Abolition of Zeroing In AD procedures, the United States had applied a methodology known as zeroing when calculating anti-dumping duties (dumping margin) for each exporter. This methodology takes into account only export transactions at prices lower than domestic prices while ignoring export transactions at higher prices (and thus assuming the differences from domestic prices as zero), which will artificially inflate dumping margins. Zeroing is an unfair methodology that ignores transactions in which dumping is not occurring, and violates Article 2.4.2, of the AD Agreement etc. that provide for calculation method of dumping margins. Japan requested consultations under the WTO dispute settlement procedures with the United States in November 2004 and requested the establishment of a panel in February The 13

14 Appellate Body Report, which was circulated in January 2007, ruled that zeroing is inconsistent with the WTO Agreements. Further, the panel and the Appellate Body of the compliance proceedings were undertaken, and eventually, the United States and Japan agreed on a memorandum for resolution of this dispute in February In accordance to the memorandum, in February 2012, the United States amended the Department of Commerce regulation and abolished zeroing. Japan continues to pay close attention to future developments so that zeroing will be completely abolished based on the memorandum and the amended regulation. Recently, the United States has been resuming the application of zeroing increasingly applying based on its own interpretation that zeroing is exceptionally allowable under the second sentence of Article of the AD Agreements, in the context of target dumping (dumped imports targeting certain purchasers, regions or time periods). This raised concerns that the aforementioned ruling to prohibit zeroing was being rendered invalid in practice. Korea and China have already referred the U.S. AD measures on their domestic products to the WTO dispute settlement procedures, arguing that the United States applied zeroing in targeted dumping cases (United States: Anti-Dumping and Countervailing Measures on Large Residential Washers from Korea (DS464); and United States: Certain Methodologies and their Application to Anti- Dumping Proceedings Involving China (DS471)). Japan participated in these cases as a third party participant and argued that the application of zeroing violates the AD Agreement. The panel and the Appellate Body of the former case (DS464) and the panel of the latter case (DS471) adopted the interpretation in line with Japan s arguments and determined that the zeroing procedure by the United States is in violation of the AD Agreement. Japan will continue to pay attention to possible application of targeted dumping to Japanese products and the consistency of such measures with the WTO Agreements. The United States: Halt of Distribution of Duty Revenues Collected through AD and Countervailing Duty Measures to U.S. Companies Based upon the Byrd Amendment A certain amendment to the Tariff Act of 1930 of the United States, widely known as the Byrd Amendment, provides for the distribution of duty revenues collected through AD and countervailing duty (CVD) measures to U.S. companies, including such companies that have petitioned for the relevant measures. 14

15 The panel was established at the request of 11 countries and territories, including Japan and the EU. In January 2003, the WTO Appellate Body found that the Byrd Amendment is inconsistent with the WTO Agreements and recommended that the United States bring it into conformity with them. However, the December 2003 deadline for implementation passed without the United States having amended or abolished the Byrd Amendment. In response to the U.S. failure to comply, a request to impose retaliatory measures submitted by Japan and seven other countries and territories including the EU was authorized in November In February 2006, an Act to repeal the Byrd Amendment was enacted in the United States. However, the transitional clause of the Act permits the distribution of duty revenues on entries of goods made and filed before October 1, As long as the distribution continues even after the repeal of the Byrd Amendment, the inconsistency with the WTO Agreements will remain. In consideration of this situation, Japan has continued to impose the retaliatory measures (imposition of an additional duty) with regard to bearings and other goods every year since 2006 until Since 2014, Japan has not imposed the retaliatory measure due to the amount of distribution for items related to Japan was very small, albeit the rights to impose the measure is reserved. Japan will continue examining the contents of the retaliatory measures in light of the distribution amount paid by the United States in recent years. Japan will continue to make efforts to urge the U.S. government to promptly halt the distribution and correct the inconsistency with the WTO Agreements, in collaboration with other member countries and territories. II. US-Japan Enforcement Cooperation and the Establishment of the International Legal Affairs Office At the Japan-U.S. Summit Meeting in February this year, the leaders of Japan and the United States agreed to strengthen economic relations between Japan and the United States and in regions based on free and fair trade (joint statement by the leaders of Japan and the United States on February 10, 2017). At the Japan-US Economic Dialogue in April held in consideration of the said Summit Meeting and at the conference between Hiroshige Seko, Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan, and Wilbur Ross, U.S. Secretary of Commerce, it was agreed to 15

16 promote Japan-U.S. cooperation in the enforcement of trade rules toward correction of unfair trade practices by third-party countries, bearing in mind the utilization of WTO dispute settlement procedures, etc. In response to this, METI established the General Counsel Office as of April 18 and organized a team of approximately 20 members, consisting of trade lawyers, etc. to strengthen the enforcement of the trade system. The ongoing cases of WTO dispute settlement procedures in which Japan and the United States are cooperating include the so-called market economy status issue, etc. METI intends to continue to make efforts in promoting Japan-U.S. cooperation in the enforcement and enrich the General Counsel Office, bearing in mind the utilization of WTO dispute settlement procedures, etc. End of Document 16